Whether the guy was serious or really unfunny-ironic in his “pick cotton” line, the premise of the debate is still very disturbing. Classifying Ebonics as a “separate language, as established by the Oakland School District in 1996”, and then claiming that students must learn in Ebonics in order to preserve their “self confidence”, is a recipe for disaster. (Would the 1996 Ebonics text even be useful today? What does the established curriculum look like?)

One thing is right: if we teach students Ebonics on the basis of their race, we will guarantee a steady stream of “cotton pickers” – people shut off from economic power – for the length of their lives.

So are anti-conservative insults gonna be the new trend now? They gotta come up with something new every year to keep it intersting.

“Damn neo-con Nazis!”
“What? How can you say that?”
“But, but, he’s a Republican!”
“I know, but ‘neo-con’ and ‘nazis’ is so 2005. Now the hip thing to say is xenophobic cracker-jacks”
“Oh, you’re right. I’m sorry, I haven’t been watching MTV enough lately. That’s from that new video by ‘Death to the White Devil’ right?”
“Yeah man. That group is totally rainbow”

Funny thing is, Ollie is already on record as being in agreement with Paul on this issue. It won’t stop him from lambasting Paul for the cotton comment, though, I imagine.

edJuly 19, 2005

Hmmm.

“How exactly are they going to “GO GET” Wizbang?”

Maybe by giving you more traffic?

Yeah. That’ll leave a mark. 🙂

KenJuly 19, 2005

re: xenophobe..

They don’t need no stinking dictionary. In politics it is impossible to err when smearing opponents.

Liberals are not alone in freeing words from the bondage of meaning.

bullwinkleJuly 19, 2005

Kos can’t purge the moonbats unless he sticks his own head in a logchipper. He cracked the whip a little and reminded them that the things they all believe can’t be talked about openly, yet. It’s a delicate balancing act leading a large group of people from point A to point B and the fewer that actually know what point B really is the more likely they are to get there. When you’re dealing with juvenile minds you gotta take baby steps.

I thought that post was going to get you in trouble with people with lead ears who cannot hear sarcasm. Xenophobia is a Greek workd (fear of strangers) You’d think Kos could get that one right. What a maroon!

It’s been a while since you’ve dropped one of these bombs…and as usual a few people got all pissed off. It’s not surprising that happened, as we all know that the point of you writing in that style is to piss certain people off. Very fun I’m sure.

So the topic is quickly diverted into a flame war, where people attack you and you attack them. When will the oozers be back?

Basically, you seem to think that using “Ebonics” to teach kids is a bad idea. You seem to think that such an action is saying that the kids are too stupid to learn so-called proper English. Correct me if I have interpreted your views incorrectly.

In my view, the educators are trying to find ways to get through to kids any way they can. Some students have a strong cultural association to that dialect, and may be averse to learning Standard English. I dont really care what method educators use, it’s just important to get through to students and find ways to teach them as much as possible. Incorporating that dialect in the education may be a way of decreasing the difficulty of learning.

Ebonics is just another dialect of English. English is just another language, and they all change over time. Of course, it helps alot to be able to speak Standard American English when trying to get a job or go to college. So it’s in the best interests of young students to learn to speak SAE. But I dont think its necessary to characterize dialects like Ebonics as somehow inferior to SAE, since thats not the case. It’s just a different dialect, and one that is spoken by fewer people. Big deal.

Ok. So you have this kid who speaks a street dialect, and associates himself with a certain street culture that is in a different socio-economic class than most other kids in school. The kid identifies with everything that he comes from, and is openly reluctant to act, speak, or look like people who are outside of his cultural group. It happens. His grades are terrible, and his interest in learning is very low. He sees school as something that is trying to erase who he is. Is there a way to teach this kid the standard American education while at the same time respecting his unique cultural differences within our society? I think there is.

Thats my view on the topic, for what its worth.

ryanJuly 20, 2005

and by the way…the actual discussion in the comments of the dkos poster were actually pretty interesting. at least they (or some of them) made an attempt to actually discuss the subject of ebonics in school, instead of getting caught up in the usual onilne bash session.

ryanJuly 20, 2005

^^^crap…not only “were” the dicussion interesting, it also WAS interesting. ha.

Just for your edification. Should you actually want to bomb this teenagers (NOT!) site with hate filled rhetoric, feel free, since I am not a 16 year old half-wit and I write policy for a living (I bet that makes you nervous). You would know that had you spent more than 20 seconds, if at all, on my site.

judgment or opinion formed before the facts are known; preconceived idea, favorable or, more usually, unfavorable; a judgment or opinion held in disregard of facts that contradict it; unreasonable bias i.e. “prejudice against people unlike him”; the holding of such judgments or opinions; suspicion, intolerance, or irrational hatred of other races, creeds, regions, occupations, etc.; injury or harm resulting as from some judgment or action of another or others. -[diced], -[dicing]: to injure or harm, as by some judgment or action; to cause to have or show prejudice; bias

SYN.—prejudice implies a preconceived and unreasonable judgment or opinion, usually an unfavorable one marked as by suspicion, fear, or hatred [a murder motivated by race prejudice]; bias implies a mental leaning in favor of or against someone or something [few of us are without bias of any kind]; partiality implies an inclination to favor a person or thing because of strong fondness or attachment [the conductor’s partiality for the works of Brahms]; predilection implies a preconceived liking, formed as a result of one’s background, temperament, etc., that inclines one to a particular preference [Bush has a predilection for lying, obsufacation and prevaracation]

*provincialism: n.

the condition or fact of being provincial; narrowness of outlook; exclusive concern with local matters; a provincial custom, characteristic, etc.; a word, phrase, or pronunciation peculiar to a certain location or dialect

*nationalism: n.

devotion to one’s nation; patriotism b) excessive, narrow, or jingoist patriotism; chauvinism; the doctrine that national interest, security, etc. are more important than international considerations; the desire for or advocacy of national independence

*ultranationalism: n.

nationalism that is excessive or extreme

*americanism: n.

a custom, characteristic, or belief of or originating in the U.S.; a word, phrase, grammatical construction, or other feature originating in or peculiar to American English; or, devotion or loyalty to the U.S., or to its traditions, customs, institutions, etc. [Attachment to America as a place or a way of life] — Syn. patriotism, nationalism, provincialism, isolationism, flag waving, chauvinism, jingoism, America for Americans, America first.

*panic:

panic refers to a frantic, unreasoning fear, often one that spreads quickly and leads to irrational, aimless action [the cry of “fire!” created a panic]